Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has entered into an agreement to entirely divest its Russia operations and customer base to local trading platform CommEX. This move comes as Binance aims to align with global compliance standards and pivots away from the Russian market.
The sale, whose financial details remain undisclosed, will include the transfer of all Binance’s Russian assets and users to CommEX over the next 12 months. To maintain continuity of service throughout the transition period, CommEX and Binance will collaborate to smoothly migrate user accounts and cryptocurrency balances.
According to Noah Perlman, Binance’s Chief Compliance Officer, disengaging from Russia aligns with the company’s renewed commitment to compliance as it eyes further international expansion. Unlike similar exits by multinational companies, Binance will relinquish all economic ties and equity in the Russia business after the sale.
Binance will begin redirecting new Russian user registrations to CommEX immediately, gradually ramping up the transition over the coming year. The company states that extra care will be taken during this process to avoid disruption for existing Russian customers.
The exit marks a notable strategic shift for Binance, which had previously withstood global pressure to cut ties with Russia amid economic sanctions related to the invasion of Ukraine. While crypto exchanges are not legally bound by these sanctions, the sale underscores Binance’s efforts to bolster its compliance reputation.
As Binance focuses its efforts on its global user base across 100+ other countries, the handover to CommEX will allow the company to streamline operations and redirect resources away from the Russian market. This signals Binance’s willingness to make difficult but necessary decisions to align itself with the evolving global regulatory landscape.
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